CDFA Secretary Karen Ross (right), the ribbon on the Healthy Soils Week display at the State Capitol. The banners will be on display outside the Governor’s Office all week. Healthy Soils supporters gathered today at the State Capitol to unveil a set of banners proclaiming “Healthy Soils Week” December 2-6. From left: California Climate and Agriculture Network (CalCAN) Associate Policy Director Brian Shobe, Community Alliance with Family Farmers Executive Director Paul Towers, Assembly Committee on Agriculture Deputy Chief Consultant Victor Frankovich, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service State Conservationist Carlos Suarez, Assembly Committee on Agriculture Chair Susan Talamantes Eggman, CDFA Secretary Karen Ross, CDFA Undersecretary Jenny Lester Moffitt, and Mary Kaems, Principal Consultant with the Assembly Speaker’s Office.
Healthy Soils Week continues with these scheduled events:
Tuesday, Dec. 3: A legislative briefing plus an informational session with the State Board of Food and Agriculture.
Wednesday, Dec. 4: A regional workshop, “Building our Food Resilient System,” in Santa Barbara. Also, CalRecycle will deliver fruit grown in a composted grove to state legislators.
Thursday, Dec. 5: World Soil Day as well as a tour for legislative staff and partner agencies that will include farms that employ healthy soils practices and a local compost facility.
Friday, Dec. 6: An event, “Rebuilding Urban Soil with Three Sisters Gardens” in West Sacramento.
CDFA has introduced a webpage to promote Healthy Soils Week, starting today and extending through Friday, December 6. CDFA has joined with several partner agencies and non-governmental organizations to promote awareness about the importance of soil health to fight climate change, enhance food security, and conserve California’s natural resources.
The website provides details about the following daily events:
Today, Monday, Dec. 2: Ribbon cutting at 11 am to unveil large display panels at the State Capitol near the Governor’s Office.
Tuesday, Dec. 3: A legislative briefing plus an informational session with the State Board of Food and Agriculture.
Wednesday, Dec. 4: A regional workshop, “Building our Food Resilient System,” in Santa Barbara. Also, CalRecycle will deliver fruit grown in a composted grove to state legislators.
Thursday, Dec. 5: World Soil Day as well as a tour for legislative staff and partner agencies that will include farms that employ healthy soils practices and a local compost facility.
Friday, Dec. 6: An event, “Rebuilding Urban Soil with Three Sisters Gardens” in West Sacramento.
Healthy soil is quite literally
the foundation of sustainable food, water, air and biodiversity. Restoring and
preserving healthy soil results in:
Improved plant health and yields
Increased water infiltration and retention
Sequestered carbon and reduced greenhouse gases (GHGs)
Reduced sediment erosion and dust
Improved water and air quality
Improved biological diversity and wildlife habitat
Hashtags
for Healthy Soils Week: #HSW2019 and #HealthySoilsWeek2019
One of the many things Californians have to be grateful for this Thanksgiving is that we live in a state that produces an abundance of fresh food that not only feeds but nourishes, our families. At a recent Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) seminar Karen Ross, Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture talked about California farmers’ “sense of purpose to help feed people, and not just feed them calories, but to nourish them. . . the kinds of crops California grows are so foundational to the best nutrition. . . that’s what we do here and we do it better than anyone else.”
California’s food diversity
We’re also fortunate that the variety of foods grown throughout California reflects the diversity of the state itself. With more than 71,000 farms producing 400 different commodities, pretty much every region of the state hosts farming, making year-round access to the foods we love something we tend to take for granted. Let your imagination be your guide.
Most of us are aware that, in addition to turkeys, the Central Valley produces an abundance of fruits, nuts, vegetables, and dairy products. But California farming is much bigger than that and keeps healthy food within easy reach. From the Central Coast Californians can count on strawberries, artichokes, lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower; you can head south for avocados for your salad as well as flowers for your holiday table; or head north for milk, cheese and other dairy products; stop in the Bay Area for garlic; and if you’re a sushi lover, the rice may well have come from the Sacramento Valley. Looking for bok choy or other Asian vegetables to have on your table? They are grown abundantly from Salinas to Santa Maria. A variety of mushrooms sprout in Santa Clara and Monterey. Apples are grown north of Los Angeles, east of San Diego, in the Central Valley and the North Coast. And if you have wine with dinner, it now comes from many regions, including Napa and Sonoma, the San Joaquin Valley, Central Coast, and Sierra foothills.
California is the nation’s No. 1 farm state
As the nation’s largest agricultural producer, there aren’t many parts of the state that don’t host farms or farm-related businesses. Again, from Secretary Ross, California farms, “produce an astonishing array of products and achieve the highest standards in quality, food safety, and environmental stewardship.”
And California farming itself is a diverse business. It not only employs people growing and harvesting the food, but it also provides jobs throughout the state to people who transport, process and distribute the food in addition to companies that support farming by providing advanced irrigation, new technology, updated equipment, management services and more. According to a recent study put out by the University of California, agriculture employed more than 1 million people in 2018, paying them $68 billion in wages.
Safe and nutritious food for your family
So, when you survey your Thanksgiving table remember that a large part of the food your family will enjoy is likely California-grown, which is not only part of who we are, it’s healthy and safe, good for the economy and better for the environment because it doesn’t have to be shipped or trucked from another country. And that’s truly something to be grateful for.
See the original post on the California Farm Water Coalition site.
CDFA Deputy Secretary Arturo Barajas, California Farm Bureau President Jamie Johansson, and Western Fairs Association President Pat Conklin at a ribbon cutting ceremony today at the Yuba Sutter Fair to recognize new animal pens for the housing of animals sheltered at fairgrounds due to emergencies like fires and floods. The Farm Bureau and CDFA split the cost to purchase a total of 280 pens for sheep, goats and swine. Some pens have already been deployed to house animals in the path of recent California wildfires.
CDFA has introduced a webpage to promote the week-long Healthy Soils Week, December 2-6, 2019. CDFA, several partner agencies, and non-governmental organizations have joined forces to promote awareness about the importance of soil health to fight climate change, enhance food security, and conserve California’s natural resources.
The website provides details about the following daily events:
Monday, Dec. 2: Ribbon cutting to unveil large display panels near the Governor’s Office.
Tuesday, Dec. 3: A legislative briefing plus an informational session with the State Board of Food and Agriculture.
Wednesday, Dec. 4: A regional workshop, “Building our Food Resilient System,” in Santa Barbara. Also, CalRecycle will deliver fruit grown in a composted grove to state legislators.
Thursday, Dec. 5: World Soil Day as well as a tour for legislative staff and partner agencies that will include farms that employ healthy soils practices and a local compost facility.
Friday, Dec. 6: An event, “Rebuilding Urban Soil with Three Sisters Gardens” in West Sacramento.
Healthy soil is quite literally
the foundation of sustainable food, water, air and biodiversity. Restoring and
preserving healthy soil results in:
Improved plant health and yields
Increased water infiltration and retention
Sequestered carbon and reduced greenhouse gases (GHGs)
Reduced sediment erosion and dust
Improved water and air quality
Improved biological diversity and wildlife habitat
CDFA employees Lilia Hy (second from left) and Cecilia Baumann (second from right) join Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services volunteers at the Turkey Drive.
Each year CDFA joins state employees for the annual Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services Turkey Drive. At the donation event yesterday at Food Bank headquarters, state employees delivered nearly 3,700 turkeys–25 tons–for needy families.
Food insecurity remains a significant challenge in California. According to the California Association of Food Banks, 4.6 million Californians–including 1.7 million children–suffer from food insecurity, which is defined as the occasional or constant lack of access to the food one needs for a healthy, active life.
Participation in the Turkey Drive is part of the annual State Employees Food Drive chaired by CDFA. The Food Drive also features the placing of barrels in common state office spaces for donations throughout the holidays. Priority items include many varieties of canned and boxed foods, cooking oils, applesauce, and peanut butter.
The donation goal this year is 750,000 pounds of food.
Op-ed by California Natural Resources Agency secretary Wade Crowfoot and California Environmental Protection Agency secretary Jared Blumenfeld
California’s water policy can be complex, and—let’s be honest—often polarizing.
Water decisions frequently get distilled into unhelpful narratives of fish versus farms, north versus south, or urban versus rural. Climate change-driven droughts and flooding threats, as well as our divided political climate, compound these challenges.
We must rise above these historic conflicts by finding ways to protect our environment and build water security for communities and agriculture. We need to embrace decisions that benefit our entire state. Simply put, we have to become much more innovative, collaborative and adaptive.
For this reason, Gov. Gavin Newsom directed us earlier this year to turn the page on old binaries and develop a broad, inclusive water agenda.
Our agencies and the California Department of Food and Agriculture will take a big step in this direction in December when we release a draft Water Resilience Portfolio for public feedback. It will serve as a roadmap for the Newsom administration with a broad set of recommendations to improve water systems across our diverse state.
Much of what we are attempting has never been tried. Difficult trade-offs have to be made unless we can find creative solutions that balance all water needs. And even then, sometimes tough decisions will have to be made.
The protection of endangered fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta requires our immediate attention. We have crucial pumping infrastructure that delivers water to two-thirds of our state’s population, but also impacts imperiled fish in the Delta.
In 2018, federal authorities embarked on an accelerated process to update the federal biological opinions, which set rules to operate the Delta pumps to protect endangered fish.
To ensure appropriate protection surrounding that process, those of us who are responsible for water management decided we could no longer rely on the federal process. Instead we are taking a careful, science-based approach to operating the State Water Project.
We are drawing on a decade of science to strengthen safeguards for fish and improve real-time management of the project that delivers water to 27 million Californians in the Bay Area, Central California and Southern California. It was a departure from past practice, but a necessary one.
After careful review of the federal biological opinions released late last month, our best experts concluded they are insufficient to protect endangered fish. As a result, the state needs to protect California’s interests and values.
We remain committed to finding common solutions with the federal government and all those interested in ending the patterns of the past.
Top of our list is working together to develop a set of voluntary agreements that can implement the State Water Board’s update to the Water Quality Control Plan for the Sacramento and San Joaquin River systems and Delta.
These agreements aim to provide additional water, habitat and science to improve environmental conditions in the two river systems and the Delta while providing water for other beneficial uses such as agriculture. Importantly, successful voluntary agreements will bring these benefits online quickly while avoiding a decade or more of litigation.
Today, policy decisions are routinely portrayed as a win for one interest at the expense of another. Especially so in the environmental arena, where headlines focus on conflict while context and thoughtful nuance are often lost.
When it comes to water in California, and all of its complexities, there are no magic fixes. What we do have is a strong commitment to move forward and not only adapt to the present, but prepare for the future.
We believe there is an urgency to address various challenges, including environmental protection and climate change. It is critical we set forth strategies and tactics that are pragmatic and feasible, and that we forge synergies and linkages between the different people, stakeholders and areas of our state so that we can rise above rhetoric, and truly work hand-in-hand toward one common goal on this issue. When it comes to water, California demands and deserves no less than our best effort.
The American Farm Bureau Federation’s 34th annual survey of classic items found on the Thanksgiving Day dinner table indicates the average cost of this year’s feast for 10 is $48.91, or less than $5.00 per person. This is a 1-cent increase from last year’s average of $48.90.
The centerpiece on most Thanksgiving tables – the turkey – costs slightly less than last year, at $20.80 for a 16-pound bird. That’s roughly $1.30 per pound, down 4% from last year. The survey results show that retail turkey prices are the lowest since 2010.
The shopping list for Farm Bureau’s informal survey includes turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a veggie tray, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and coffee and milk, all in quantities sufficient to serve a family of 10 with plenty for leftovers.
Although the overall average cost of the meal was about the same this year, there were some price changes for individual items. In addition to turkey, foods that showed slight price declines include cubed bread stuffing and canned pumpkin pie mix. Foods showing modest increases this year included dinner rolls, sweet potatoes and milk. After adjusting for inflation, the cost of this year’s Thanksgiving dinner is $19.13, down slightly from last year.
Despite the growing popularity of prepared foods, the vast majority of Americans, 92%, celebrate Thanksgiving at home or at a family member’s home and most cook their entire meal at home, according to the survey.
More than 250 volunteer shoppers checked prices at grocery stores in 38 states for this year’s survey. Farm Bureau volunteer shoppers are asked to look for the best possible prices, without taking advantage of special promotional coupons or purchase deals.
The AFBF Thanksgiving dinner survey was first conducted in 1986. The informal survey provides a record of comparative holiday meal costs over the years. Farm Bureau’s classic survey menu has remained unchanged since 1986 to allow for consistent price comparisons.
Volunteers and clients at a food giveaway project at the Davis Night Market.
By Sneha Ramachandran
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) found in 2010 that the U.S. wastes approximately 30-40 percent of its food supply, equaling almost 133 billion pounds of food. It is also estimated that 40 million people in the US are food insecure, meaning 1 in 8 Americans struggle to find access to nutritious and sustainable food.
Yet another statistic that might hit close to home for many is Feeding America’s estimate that approximately 28,320 people are food insecure within Yolo County.
To combat these figures, a group of Davis graduate students founded the Davis Night Market, a weekly gathering in Central Park that attempts to reduce food insecurity and waste in Yolo County by collecting donations of leftover food from local restaurants.
The market started late last Spring 2019, and since then it has welcomed hundreds of community members. Each Tuesday at 9:30 p.m., volunteers unload a variety of donated food from Davis restaurants onto the picnic tables in Central Park for the community to enjoy. In addition to free food, there is also different music and entertainment each week. The event runs until all the food is gone — until roughly 11 p.m.
Hannah Yu, a fourth-year economics and communications double major, does project management for the night market and oversees its outreach efforts. She explained the vision for the market in a few concise words.
“Our whole goal was to make sure that nobody goes to bed hungry,” Yu said. “We wanted to do our best to reduce food waste and feed people in need or those who are food insecure. As a whole, we generally tend to waste a lot of food and restaurants especially are always throwing away food that could easily go to people in need instead of making its way into the trash.”
When the project first began, volunteers reached out to local restaurants and asked for food donations and leftovers after hours. So far, the market has acquired seven vendors including ChickPeas, Upper Crust Baking, Dickey’s, Village Bakery, the Food Co-op, the Farmers Kitchen Cafe and the Barista Brew.
“It’s really heartwarming to see how much the community wants to give back,” Yu said. “I’m from L.A. and I’m not used to seeing that. It’s really awesome to see how the people in Davis want to help each other out.”
Although the gathering aims to provide support to those who struggle with food insecurity, the market still encourages anyone in the community to come by for free food and good company.
“We want the entire Davis community to feel welcomed and join us,” Yu said. “When we first started the project, our goal was to address the food insecurity problems not only among the homeless population in Davis, but also the students of UC Davis. We have had a lot of students come by and tell us how grateful they were because they don’t feel comfortable going to foodbanks and I am so grateful that they feel comfortable enough to come to the market and not feel stigmatized.”
Yu mentioned that Upper Crust Baking was one of the first restaurants to donate to the market even before it was recognized as a community event. The Upper Crust owner and manager, Lorin Kalisky, explained why the restaurant chose to donate their baked goods to the night market.
“We are happy to donate goods to the Davis Night Market and many other food organizations that help feed people that are food insecure,” Kalisky said. “We have a lot of bread and other baked goods that wouldn’t necessarily go to waste, but would be left over or get old, and we try to waste as little food as possible.”
Kalisky also said that many of the same individuals associated with the market are involved in other “organizations and initiatives in town trying to alleviate food insecurity.”
“We want to help nonprofits and charity organizations by donating or sponsoring them,” Kalisky said. “We try to be a very active participant in the Davis community and we are always happy to do what we can to support noble causes.”
Sixth-year ecology graduate student Ernst Oenhinger is one of the founding members of the Davis Night Market and has worked on many other on-campus food sustainability projects including the Freedge and the Food Recovery Network. Oenhinger detailed how the market has tried to reach all members of the community, regardless of socioeconomic background.
“There are several components that we wanted the DNM to address: one was to reduce food waste and food insecurity, but we also wanted to incorporate a social aspect by involving the community through music and hanging out and interacting with one another,” Oenhinger said. “I think that is what kind of brings it all together.”
In addition to alleviating food insecurity in Davis, the night market also aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Rather than using a car to transport donated goods, the organization uses bike trailers.
“We try to at least have one trailer for each restaurant,” Oenhinger said. “The trailers usually have some cool LED lights with the Davis Night Market logo as well as a boombox to play music and keep things fun.”
Moving forward, Oenhinger hopes to see more restaurants donate to the program, with a possibility of designating an additional day of the week to hold the market on. He also expressed his hopes for the project on a larger scale.
“We definitely want to have a model that is copyable by any other community,” Oenhinger said. “This is not something that will work in every city, but we want to make it as adaptable as possible. Our goal is to make a platform that is easy to copy — we want to have everything, from how to make the signs to the proper way to ask restaurants for help on a website or google folder that can be accessed by anyone.”
Rodrigo Chipres with the CDFA Inspection Services Division shares information about the Produce Safety Program and the inspection process.
With the theme of “Growing Together,” California’s 5th annual Latino Farmer Conference is being held today in Tulare at the International AgriCenter.
More than 300 farmers and ranchers are in attendance, along with CDFA’s Office of Environmental Farming and Innovation (OEFI), Inspection Services Division, CalCannabis Cultivation Licensing Division, Animal Health and Food Safety Services Division and Marketing Division have representatives on-hand. The conference is hosted by the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and it’s open to all farmers and ranchers.
Michael Wolff with the Office of Environmental Farming and Innovation presents at the 5th annual Latino Farmer Conference about CDFA’s healthy soils, irrigation efficiency, dairy digesters, and alternative manure management.Georgia Henry with the CalCannabis Cultivation Licensing Division meets with farmers and ranchers at the 5th Annual Latino Farmer Conference in Tulare.
